


Bad Dreams, Bunk Beds, Showers and Purrs

by Pok Chookity (Pok_Chookity)



Series: Bad Dreams and Purrs [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst and Fluff, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Post-Season/Series 05, Pre Season 01, Sexy Fluff in the End
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:08:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28164489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pok_Chookity/pseuds/Pok%20Chookity
Summary: What if not all of the dreams they have about each other are bad?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Bad Dreams and Purrs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2003980
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65





	Bad Dreams, Bunk Beds, Showers and Purrs

**Author's Note:**

> This series has no chronological order, just a common theme.

Thwack. A strong push in her side jolts Catra awake. She bolts upright, blearily looking around the dim barrack in search of what dared to so rudely interrupt her slumber, ready to open up a can of clawy rampage. The culprit makes itself known again with a push against her hip, and she looks down to register an offensive… foot. Adora’s foot.

It makes sense now. Adora is sleep fighting again. She’s squirming under the covers of their bunk and her usually comfy and warm feet are pushing at the spot where Catra likes to curl. Dummy.

She’s about to settle back to sleep, giving her dummy some extra room, when her attention gets caught by something that seems off. She shifts to take a closer look, and there it is - Adora lets out a soft, distressed moan and her hands twitch. This is not sleep fighting. Her dummy is having a nightmare.

Catra glances around. Displays of physical weakness are strongly discouraged in the Horde, and bad dreams count as such, even though everyone has them. The thing to do however is the same, you try to keep it out of sight. Luckily the noise Adora is making hasn’t woken up anyone yet - Lonnie is snoring, which is a good thing because it helps mask other noises, Rogelio is curled around himself for better heat effectiveness, being cold blooded, and Kyle can sleep through a Princess Invasion drill, with warning sirens and everything, lucky bastard.

Adora moans louder and her arm flails out.

“Shhh!” Catra hisses quietly. “Adora…” She whispers, and pokes her side. No effect. Adora is becoming louder and more restless and it looks like it’s time for desperate measures. They have a pact about this – whoever witnesses the other having a nightmare it’s their duty to wake the other up by any means necessary without attracting attention. Catra clamps Adora mouth with her hand and pins the wrist of her restless arm to the bed.

“Wake up,” she hisses into her ear.

That only results in Adora struggling harder. Even more desperate measures then. She digs her claws into her wrist.

In retrospect, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. Even if she only meant to make her feel it and didn’t mean to hurt her. Adora’s eyes shoot open, she lets out a muffled moan into Catra’s palm and her free hand connects blindly with the side of her head.

Catra hisses through her teeth but doesn’t let go. Not before Adora’s eyes focus on her and she sinks to the bed, finally registering the reality.

Catra shifts back, straddling her legs, and rubs her head with a displeased grimace.

“Catra?…” Adora gasps, wide eyed.

“Shhh. You were having a nightmare. So you’re welcome, idiot,” Catra whispers.

Adora glances at the others cadets, who are still asleep. They’re undiscovered.

“Sorry…” She sits up and reaches towards Catra’s head worriedly.

“It’s fine.” Catra waves her off.

Adora nods and eases back, still looking lost and breathing unevenly, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead, still shaken by her dream. Now that won’t do.

“Let me see your wrist,” Catra murmurs. 

Adora extends her hand and she examines the red pinpricks. She clawed her a little too hard. She leans in and starts grooming it, her rough tongue lapping at the damage. Adora’s breath catches slightly but she keeps still, letting her do her thing.

Shadow Weaver never looked kindly at any claw shaped marks on her prized pupil, or any damage that could’ve been construed as her fault for that matter, and Catra discovered that her feline way of making things heal faster worked just as well on Adora. It was a good arrangement, even if Adora tended to giggle during the procedure, which was kind of cute.

Not tonight though, she notes the blonde watching her solemnly. Must’ve been a really bad dream. That thought earns her a few extra licks before Catra is satisfied that her job is done.

She sits back and watches Adora pull her knees to herself, wrap her arms around them and shiver slightly.

“Are you going to go back to sleep?” Catra murmurs worriedly.

Adora rests her chin on her knees and lifts her blue-gray eyes at her, looking small and vulnerable and Catra feels a surge of something she can’t define, a desire to do something that she can’t explain. It’s certainly not because she likes her.

“Can you stay up here with me?” Adora whispers.

Always.

That’s the first thing that comes to Catra’s mind. But careful now, careful. Excessive fraternization is strongly discouraged in the Horde too. Not that it stops it from happening, you just keep it out of sight too, and she’s not really worried about any of their barrack mates telling on them. She knows a couple of things about Lonnie she could tell too, and has her suspicions about Kyle. But Shadow Weaver has a really disturbing habit of being able to appear out of any shadow. Her sleeping at Adora’s feet she tolerates – her being a cat after all, that’s totally legit. But the cat excuse only goes so far. If she catches them sleeping anywhere closer it will definitely earn her some of that strong discouragement and she tries to limit sleeping ‘up there’ to the emergencies.

But this is an emergency. Because this is Adora asking.

“Okay,” Catra says quietly.

They settle down, Adora curled into a ball and Catra spooning around her. She pulls the cover over their heads to completely hide them from any malevolently peering creepy shadows.

Adora takes her hand in hers and holds it to her chest, and Catra presses her nose into her neck. She wishes she could do more to make her feel better. That she could groom her hair same way she does her fur, because she knows how nice that feels… But that makes it seem almost like… kissing. And that’s a definite fraternization no-no. From what she heard it takes the other person to be just as involved. And unlike the minor transgression of sneaking to cuddle in Adora’s bunk, Shadow Weaver would see that as her completely tainting Adora with her bad influence, making her as bad as she is. And it makes her associate that with fear. It makes that feel exactly like when she tells her not to drag Adora down. She holds Adora tighter, terrified to lose her.

Would Adora even like it if she did that? What if she doesn’t, that’s… she doesn’t want to think about that, because that’s terrifying too. She shivers and snuggles closer to her.

“You can sleep now. Dummy.” She murmurs and starts purring softly, her breath warming Adora’s neck.

Adora sighs, a little shakily, and after a while she does.

*

It must be sometime later because Catra had the time to fall asleep. But now something has woken her up again and for one brief but horrifying moment she thinks it was Shadow Weaver who’s slithered across the floor towards them. But as she gets her bearings she realizes that they’re still safe under the covers and the barrack is quiet outside, except for Lonnie’s snoring.

Adora is restless again, squirming a little and emitting soft moans, and it looks like it was her that had woken her up. That’s the second nightmare in one night. Her poor dummy.

“Adora,” Catra whispers, squeezing her hand.

“Catra…” Adora mumbles softly in her sleep and lets out a small sigh. Then she gasps, and wakes.

“Catra?” She turns her head to look at her, her eyes growing a little large and slightly panicky.

“Shh, relax, you were having another nightmare.”

“Yeah, another… nightmare.” Adora nods.

Catra gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, but she still looks uneasy. Adora slowly extracts herself from her embrace and sits up.

“Are you alright?” Catra rises next to her, confused.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Adora mutters evasively. “I just need to go get some air.” She lowers her feet to the cold floor, avoiding looking at her.

“I’ll go with you,” Catra says, starting to feel distraught about the way she’s acting. It’s like she doesn’t want to be near her.

“No no, it’s okay.”

“Okay, what did I do now?” Catra sits back, looking hurt.

“Nothing,” Adora tries to keep her voice low. She turns and finally looks at her, keeping her eyes trained firmly on hers and her shoulders squared. “It’s not you, I promise. I just really, really need some air.” She takes her boots, determined, and sneaks out the door.

I promise. Catra looks the way she went, feeling torn between following her and feeling like she’s just been left behind. Again. Why wouldn’t Adora tell her what’s going on? Does she not trust her? Is she not good enough? She’s never good enough for anything. That’s what Shadow Weaver always tells her. And Adora never says… Catra feels her hurt swelling. She’s not going to go after her to make sure that she is okay if this is how she really thinks. See if she cares.

“Adora,” she whispers and sneaks out the door.

*

Covertly following Adora is a game she can play all day. Or night. She’s a cat. Cat’s feet pad softly on the pipes above. The blonde’s human hearing isn’t keen enough.

A dreadful, sickening feeling rises in her when Adora takes the corridor leading to the Black Garnet chamber. She’s going to Shadow Weaver. Instead of telling her what’s going on, she would rather go to _her_? But before she can spiral further down into feeling betrayed, Adora takes a turn and goes a different way. Catra follows, her heart still pounding. She wishes Adora would never have to go in there at all. She wishes they had never met the old witch.

She wonders what it would’ve been like if they were just some uninteresting, unremarkable cadets, unnoticed by the terrible people who run things, low enough under the radar for anyone to really care what they do. Except that it’s them who have a chance to run things now. And then no one would dare tell them what they could do. And as much as she hates to admit it, they wouldn’t have that chance if they hadn’t met Shadow Weaver. If Adora wasn’t her favorite.

Adora spends the next half an hour in an empty training area, punching a bag. What a weird time to train, and that’s coming from someone who is naturally nocturnal. She keeps observing her graceful motions from her perch, her tail flicking in appreciation.

Finally, Adora catches the bag and stops. She lets out a frustrated sigh and heads into the showers. Catra debates whether to follow her in there or not - she can slip in unnoticed, it’s just all the… wetness that she’ll undoubtedly encounter there. The pipes above tend to leak, floor will be wet. She takes her showers out of necessity, preferably with a warm arid place nearby to quickly dry her fur, and tonight she’s not in the mood.

The longer Adora spends inside however, the more restless she becomes - the thought of her alone in there with all that moisture making her uneasy. Adora can’t drown in the shower right? That’s impossible, right? What is taking her so long then?

She’s too distraught to formulate any other theories and is about ready to just barge in there and rescue her, when Adora finally emerges. Catra exhales in relief. She notices she looks more relaxed now, the extended shower time must’ve helped her with whatever was bothering her. It looks like she can stop worrying. Now to stealthily sneak back into barracks ahead of her to pretend she’s been asleep all this time… Because there’s no way she’s showing that she was worried. She hasn’t forgotten Adora just running away from her.

*

She’s curled on the top tier of their bunk when she hears Adora sneak back, crossing the barrack in the near dark. Rather clumsily from the sound of it. How does she manage to have better scores than her when she stomps like that on a battlefield for every Princess bot to hear…

Catra stills, feigning sleep. Adora reaches their bunk and her breathing comes evenly somewhere next to her for a moment, until she lets out a small sigh.

“Catra,” she says quietly.

She is sleeping.

“Come on, Catra…” A hand finds the tip of her tail and pets it, and she can’t help instinctively flicking it. Oh fine.

She rolls over and narrows her eyes at her. Adora is standing next to the bunk with a hopeful and somewhat guilty expression on her dummy face.

“I’m sorry about earlier. You don’t have to sleep up there if you don’t want to,” she says.

“What if I do want to?” Catra mutters, grumpily. She almost never does, the foot of Adora’s bunk is almost always her spot. Almost. At least tonight she didn’t run away to hide in a box somewhere, or at the top of the tallest building she could find.

“Oh.” Adora’s face falls. “Okay. That’s okay too.” She disappears out of view dejectedly, getting in the lower bunk.

So wait, is Adora the one who’s feeling hurt now? Catra rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling. After a while some restless rustling comes from below, and it starts to make her feel restless too. And a little worried again.

Ugh, fiiiiine.

She leans over the edge, hanging upside down with her hair falling in an unruly cascade and peers at her.

“So like… Can I assume that you will at least _someday_ tell me what that was all about?” Catra inquires.

Adora sits up. “Yeah!…” She grasps eagerly at the offered way out. “Definitely, someday.” She gives her a hopeful look. “I do want to,” she adds quieter and seems to blush.

“Okay.” Catra spills downwards in a pointedly showy limber manner, getting to the lower bunk without ever touching the floor, and noticing Adora staring. Yeah, this is how she rolls.

Adora eagerly pulls up her feet to give her room and she stretches, enjoying flexing her claws on every finger and toe, and curls in her usual spot. Adora smiles and lies down too, pulling the cover over herself.

“Good night Catra,” she murmurs.

“Good night Adora.” Catra shifts, finding the warmth of her feet, and gives a reassuring purr.

*

“You did WHAT in the shower?”

Catra stares incredulously at Adora over the kitchen table of their Brightmoon suite after nearly doing a spit take with her coffee.

“Well you did ask.” Adora grins sheepishly. “And I did promise to someday tell you.”

Catra gawks at her. And it only took what, a few years?

“Wow, Adora, do you realize Kyle used to go to that shower too?” She makes a mock ‘that’s gross’ face.

“Oh please. Like you never did that.”

“Nope. My relationships with showers were short and sweet. In, out, I’m all done.” Catra says straight faced.

Adora laughs and gives her a look that is full of adoration.

“I can’t believe you almost went inside to rescue me. That’s so sweet. It probably would’ve been… awkward though.”

“Oh I don’t know… Depending on which way it would’ve gone, maybe it would’ve spared us from some trouble further on…” Catra says pensively.

Adora reaches to scratch her cheek comfortingly and she melts into her touch.

“What I can’t believe,” she says, covering Adora’s hand with her own and planting a kiss on her palm, “that you’re only now mentioning you were having naughty dreams about me.” She smirks, watching Adora blush. They’ve been doing… all sorts of naughty stuff for a while now, after all.

“I thought maybe you figured it out back then,” Adora smiles sheepishly.

“It crossed my mind, but… well.” Catra trails off.

Adora takes her hands in hers, concerned, and Catra squeezes back to reassure her, seeing warmth and love in Adora’s eyes and matching them with her own.

Perfuma says they should talk about these things. And she’s right. Turned out Adora used to be just as unsure and afraid as she was. Unsure if she would feel the same way about her. Afraid of acting on same things she was afraid to act on. Afraid that Shadow Weaver would blame it on her bad influence and of what she would do to get rid of that. Maybe it’s not so surprising that sometimes it takes them a while to… mention stuff to each other. Like one interdimensional invasion and mostly dying while. Catra takes a deep calming breath. Shadow Weaver’s not coming back.

“I thought maybe it was a bad dream about me.” She says. “And I didn’t really know if you would… if an extra long shower could have anything to do with me.”

Adora looks into her eyes, with fierce intensity. “You were always the reason for the extra long showers.”

With that she blushes a little and Catra’s brows start to crawl up.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and those dreams about you, they were never… bad either.”

“Oh.” Catra feels herself blushing. She stands up and wraps her arms around Adora’s shoulders, burying her nose in her hair, inhaling her scent and purring. Adora leans back into her embrace, humming contently.

“I kinda want to go rescue you from a shower right now, Princess,” Catra’s murmurs.

“Hmm? I thought your relationships with showers were short and sweet.” Adora teases. “That’s definitely not a kind of shower I have in mind… Maybe aside form sweet…”

Catra claws extend slightly at that, feeling like kneading something. And Adora’s breasts are so dangerously close to her palms right now. She starts purring.

“Oh, it will be sweet…” She leans in and captures the lobe of her ear between her fangs with exactly as much pressure as Adora loves, hearing her gasp. “And long…” She lavishly drags her tongue through the fine hair at the nape of her neck, feeling Adora shiver because she does love that kind of kissing. “And have a lot of in… and out…” She succumbs to her desire to knead.

Adora lets out something between a moan and a grunt and rises to her feet, taking Catra with her and almost knocking down the chair. She has to catch her balance by grabbing the table end ends up pinned to it by Catra from behind.

“And Adora…” Catra purrs into her ear, leaning into her and pressing herself against her rear. “I dreamt like that about you too.”

“Fuuuuck…” Adora moans out and blindly grabs for the back of Catra’s legs, trying to hoist her up.

Catra shivers in pleasure from being able to make her perfect hero of Etheria talk so dirty and gladly takes the hint, straddling her back and wrapping her legs around her, her tail bushing and shooting up in excitement. She gives Adora’s neck encouraging pointy fanged nibbles all the way on their urgent ride to the shower, and this time she really looks forward to all the… wetness that they’ll undoubtedly encounter there.

**Author's Note:**

> I kept rewriting and rewriting this, I hope it turned out okay.
> 
> 'Always' - Continuing to dip into Hunger Games for quotes lol


End file.
